How a 4-Pound Bird Wrecks a 75-Ton Plane

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Macgyver,
There actually is a good bird strike video on YouTube. Check out this one of a ThompsonFly 757 that ingested a bird on takeoff from Manchester Airport in the UK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KhZwsYtNDE

Raymond Jornd of IL 5:13PM August 07, 2011

What ever else inclusion of this video seeks to demonstrate, this was not NOT NOT! a bird ingestion test.
What is shown here appears to be the most violent and top-end of the worst-cast scenario tests designed to demonstrate the engine housing's ability to contain the parts/shrappnel from a multiple blade-off failure inside the turbine. The rotational unbalance of the engine hub here is the most extreme I have seen in video. This effect could theoretically be caused by bird strikes into the fan blades, but I'm lead to believe that the bird issue in Fl 1549 had more to do with bird induction into the turbine combustion chambers, at which point the engine(s) flow(s) stalled and combustion / thrust was lost.

aviator of VT 12:31PM February 24, 2009

You know...its a great flick and it sparked some great conversations. The point of the post is that we allow millions of dollars and hundreds of lives to rest on the probability of a flock of geese NOT getting sucked into a jet engine? Well, I just answered the question...its all based on probabilities. So, smoke-m if you got-m, drink like a fish, party all night, sleep all day because in the end the most dangerous thing you can do is drive to work without your seat belt.

Qui-Jon of NE 10:59AM February 09, 2009

But I know a horses' behind when I smell one. I've seen the original documented testing of a GE turbofan engine. They did every test in the book, includung throwing FROZEN twenty pound turkeys into it, not to mention enough water to fill a few swimming pools, enough block ice to threaten the north pole, and they did a blade out test. With the exception of the blade out test, the engine never missed a beat, and kept running. I don't know what those birds were, or how many, but I know enough that if both engines were knocked out, it was a LOT of them, and at least two of them were positioned properly to take the engines out. The big fan in the front is not the engine, it's just a big propellor for all intents and purposes. The actual ENGINE, sits behind the fan on a common shaft, and is about a quarter the size of the fan, so not nearly as big a target. The jet does not go boom, either. It simply slices the creature into pieces, and usually ejects it and keeps going.
Knock out both engines? With what I know, that's pretty impressive. That's REAL impressive.
Hats off to the pilot, It'll never happen to him again.
As far as the video, I don't think anybody has posted a "bird digested by jet" on You Tube yet. At least he tried.

Macgyver of WI 9:03AM February 09, 2009

What planet is this guy from? This is totally and completely misleadling.

eric of WI 11:54AM February 05, 2009

This video has nothing to do with a bird strike!

Gre Fou of CA 10:22AM February 05, 2009

Rick Newman, apparently, has as much knowledge of the testing and effect of an explosive charge versus a 4 lb. bird strike as my dog does (actually, I think our mutt is less ignorant). Where do these "expert journalists" come from - maybe a vacuum chamber?

Doug of CA 7:55PM February 04, 2009

This video has nothing to do with a bird strike. After reading the true explanation of the video, I think the most appropriate thing to do would be to remove it from this article. This is especially true since the article still says it's a video of a bird-strike test, which it is not.

KF of CO 5:45PM February 04, 2009

This is a video of blade off test where a detonater is placed on a blade causing it to to travel through the core. Totally different to bird indgestion.

Devex eng 4:06PM February 03, 2009